


Where The Shadow Ends

by twistedforce



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Interplanetary Travel, Jedi Mythology, Post-TRoS, includes Ben's death scene, loneliness and belonging, memory sharing, mild PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:01:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22089790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedforce/pseuds/twistedforce
Summary: A dyad can't be broken, just reforged.Upon returning to the Resistance base, Rey finds out her bond with Ben cannot have vanished. Ready to do whatever it takes, she seeks to find her soulmate, wherever he may be. Following a trail of signs all across the galaxy, she discovers a telling new force power that might help her complete her quest...
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 26
Collections: TROS Reylo Fix-it Fics, The Rise of Skywalker: Fix-It Fic Edition





	Where The Shadow Ends

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on here and I hope to inspire you with it. Please note English is not my native language and I used German punctuation. All criticism and comments are welcome.  
> If you are looking for music to accompany your reading, I have a playlist called "Dyad in the Force" on my Spotify (mrsskywxlker).  
> Happy reading!

His spirit unguided. Floating. A million voices around it, but he was only looking for one. Unable to pull through, stuck somewhere he didn’t know. Where was she?

\-----

In that moment, they just looked at each other. Searching their faces, taking in every inch as if they were to never see each other again. No words were needed to ask for consent. Rey had wanted to do this for so long, yet she didn’t budge until it was truly Ben Solo in front of her. She’d seen glimpses of him when he listened to her after she’d fallen into the cave. When they had touched hands, she saw a vision so bright, she knew he would return. Never had she thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Sure, Rey believed he would turn…but she never thought that Ben had longed for her in the same way. Without wasting another thought, she finally leaned in and pressed her lips against his. She tasted blood and…something sweet. Something that blurred her thoughts and made her head spin. Love? Wanting more, Rey grasped Ben’s face in her hands as he, mirroring her desire, slung his arm around her, wrapping her into the warmest embrace she had ever felt.

The moment was brief but it was enough. It was the fulfilling of everything they had silently yearned for without knowing for so long. When they pulled away, Ben smiled at her – the first time she saw his genuine smile and it was for her. Slowly, she moved her hand down his cheek, unsure of what to do with it now. 

The girl wanted to tell him so much. What should she tell him first? About the balance teachings she had found in the Jedi texts? About how Leia had talked of him only with pure love? Her smile bright, she suddenly noticed the coldness of the cave return, sending a shiver down her spine. Ben was trembling. Did the Sith ghosts come back? She thought she had destroyed them. Whatever was happening, they should probably leave, or get up to fight again. Focusing her attention back on Ben’s dazed face, Rey realized it was not the cave going cold. It was Ben. What was he doing? Was he rejecting her? No, that couldn’t be, he still held her tightly and gazed into her eyes. Confused, Rey slightly shook her head. She wouldn’t lose him! She would fight for him until her last breath, just as she had before!

Ben’s grip on her loosened. The man she’d only just gotten back smiled slightly – a reassurance that they were going to be okay. Ben lost the strength to keep himself upright, to hold her. A thousand thoughts crashed into Rey’s mind like the cruel waves colliding on the Death Star ruins. But as Ben silently closed his eyes and fell back, all of them silenced, leaving behind a numbing silence and an overwhelming flood of despair.

Rey gripped his hand and tried to ease his drop, her breath going unsteady as tears choked her throat. He wasn’t passing out, he was…dying? The moment was over before she could even react, before she could shake him, save him. His ghost faded through her hand, a whisper of what they could have been. Now their stories were no longer intertwined. Their bond was broken.

~~~

For a moment she felt nothing. The remains of the connection she and Ben had shared were gone. He was gone. She looked down at her hands in disbelief, then pressed them above the spot on her stomach where Ben had touched her, where he had given her what she didn’t want: life without him. She tried to remember the feeling of his hand on her body as best as she could, hold onto it, onto him. And then it all came crashing onto her, every warm emotion she had ever felt since she left Jakku - the belonging, familiarity, understanding, followed by everything that awaited Rey – loneliness, uncertainty, pain. Rey didn’t know how long she sat there, crouched on the cold stone, clutching herself and listening to her sobs being echoed by the walls. 

It was only when she noticed the noise of the battle above her growing more silent that she regained consciousness about what was happening around her. “I got to leave this place”, she thought. This godforsaken lair of pain and misery. Somehow, she managed to get up, and Rey grasped Ben’s black linen clothes. There were all she had left of him. She picked up the sabers and the blaster Ben had arrived with and took one long look back at what was now just an empty grey cave with no energy at all. Finally making it back to the x-wing that was now parked next to a deserted TIE, the Jedi placed Ben’s clothes and the sabers in her lap, then heated up the engines and returned to base.

~~~

Everything on the Resistance base happened in a blur. People were celebrating her, she got clapped on the shoulder here and there and heard fighters exclaim cheers of joy.

“We wouldn’t have made it without you!” 

“The evil ruler is gone because of the Jedi!”

Rey stumbled forward, looking around for something to hold on to. What she wanted was to talk to Leia, to confess all her feelings, but Leia was gone. Maybe the Jedi Master had already known of her pupil’s struggle. After all, she’d known about…other things as well. Rey wished she could have told Leia about how she loved her son. And about how he had loved her back.

The shouts of cheer became unbearable. The girl remembered falling into Finn’s arms, then Poe’s arms around them. She thought she cried then but she couldn’t recall. She should have felt safe here in the arms of the ones that had been with her on this journey but she knew her safe place had always been someone else. 

“Get a grip”, she thought. “Your friends are alive. You could be left with no one but you’ve still got them.”

The celebrations were loud and free. Rey wasn’t even sure what they were celebrating as of now – yes, the Emperor was dead but what about the First Order? They still had ships all over the galaxy. After some time of crying into each other’s arms, the friends retreated to a tent for some much needed kaf. Finn told Rey something about him and Poe being promoted to Generals and she tried to muster a smile as best as she could.

“But how did your fight go down, Rey?”, he asked her when she only nodded in response to his recap of the fight. Poe and Rose looked at her expectantly. 

“Don’t want to talk about it right now.” She could feel people wanting to ask her that question all day. Her friends had hugged her tightly when she was close to breaking down but even then she could feel the curiosity burning on their tongues. It was not that she didn’t want to tell them…just that she couldn’t. There was no way they could possibly understand. No one did. 

Finn looked puzzled but he didn’t push her. Somehow he got the message that there was more to this fight than her striking down an old enemy – her own blood. “Sorry, didn’t want to force you, Rey. We’re proud of what you did.” He placed his hand above hers and squeezed it, observing her with a warm smile. “We are”, Poe joined in with a nod. “But that X-Wing, you know. That’s a nice one! Where’d you get it?”

It was too much for her. It felt like she couldn’t explain any of it all to them. “I…”, Rey started. “I think I better go.” 

Before anyone could stop her, the girl was up, staff in hand and leaving the tent. She could hear a soft “Rey?” from Finn behind her and assumed Poe kept him from going after her. Good. Rey didn’t want to push him away again just because she was having a tough time. Finn deserved better than that.

She walked away from the loud chatter of victory until she only heard a murmur of voices. Then she ran, as fast and as far as she could. Skipping over stones, dodging leaves, brushing past animals grazing peacefully. Rey was furious that they could all just go on with their lives and she had nothing to go back to, furious that nothing would be the same now and that all that followed her wake was misery. Her lungs burned and her side ached with sharp pain. She was exhausted after just a quarter of the training course. Frustrated, Rey sat down on a dark brown trunk and kicked away her training helmet in anger. She sighed. “Calm yourself”, she thought. “Be a Jedi, be at peace.” She knew exactly she couldn’t ‘be at peace’ right now but she had to try to keep herself going. Rubbing her palm against her forehead she took a deep breath.

“Sweet child”, a voice emerged from behind her. Rey turned around in bewilderment.

“Maz?” Had the old woman followed her?

Leia’s friend stepped closer and adjusted her lenses, just like she had done a year ago in her castle when she was looking for Finn’s true intention. She was reading into her and Rey did not protest.

Stepping closer and closer, until there were only inches separating their faces, Maz spoke. “You’ve seen so much pain. And felt such love. Your soul was healed and then broken. Who did this?” Maz frowned though Rey was sure she knew the answer. The woman only wanted her to talk herself, to confront her with her truth.

“You know who”, she whispered almost inaudibly.

“Tell me, child, what truly happened. What you did on Exegol, the both of you.”

There was no hiding from Maz. She wasn’t a Jedi but she was just as wise as Leia. If anyone could come close to understanding Rey, it was her.

“He came back for me. Ben”, she started. It all poured out of her. Every single emotion she had felt, every detail she remembered, she told Maz about it all. How she had felt Ben the moment he arrived, how he wore a sweater instead of battle clothes and tried to fight with only a blaster. How she passed him the saber and how she almost became a Sith but didn’t because of him. She talked of their bond and of her body inhabiting all the Jedi. Of her death, her resurrection and her very first kiss. 

“And then…”, she stopped. Tears had been running down Rey’s face the whole time but now they wouldn’t let her speak. She shook her head. “And then…” Another pause.

“Maz, no one came to him. Nobody.” Rey’s voice broke away and sobs took over. “They were right there and not a single spirit fought for Ben! Why did they come for me and let him die?” 

She sniffed. This was the first time she had let herself think this thought through. Before, she had pushed it away because surely, there must have been a reason. But there wasn’t. It didn’t make sense.

“The force works in mysterious ways. Spirits are a moody thing. I know a great deal about them but this…” She shook her head. “There always is an explanation.”

“He faded right through my hands. I don’t-“ Rey was struggling with words. She never opened up to anyone and this was hard. “I don’t know what to do without him.”

Maz took a step back, clearly thinking about something. She adjusted her lenses back to normal and crossed her arms in front of her small body. Something about this was bothering her.

“The dyad”, she started. “Unseen for generations. I have never met someone with a connection like that, but I know the stories. Legend has it that if one member passes, the other’s strength will keep them alive. Or should the pain be too much to carry, both pass together to share a life within the force and forge a new connection between two young souls.” Maz took a long look at the girl. “Your story, Rey, does not add up.”

Rey scoffed in disbelief. What was the woman saying? Her connection with Ben was true! He didn’t lie to her! And how was it her fault that the stories weren’t right? “I don’t know what you mean”, Rey reverberated. She got to her feet and towered over the leader. “We were a dyad.”

“No, you ARE a dyad. You’re not hearing me. Either your connection was not what you thought it was, but I believe you when you say it was true. So, otherwise-”

Rey cut her off. “Otherwise he’s not really gone.” The words left her mouth as a whisper. It was a hope she didn’t want herself to believe in but her desire overthrew all her efforts of rationality. 

Maz nodded. She smiled at Rey’s baffled face. “There’s many ways for a spirit to manifest itself. Find your connection. Find his manifestation. And you will find him.”

“Can’t he…find me?”, Rey asked with genuine curiosity. “He found me galaxies away.”

The old woman chuckled. “It won’t be as easy as that. There is not much knowledge about the spirit world. You will have to turn around every stone, retrace every step, read every book to find where he is. Palpatine cast a great darkness over the galaxy. You will see young Solo where the shadow ends.”

It overwhelmed her. Rey had never felt so many emotions all in one day. The strain of the battle returned and suddenly, she felt more tired than ever. Exhaustion overtaking her, she fell to her knees and hugged Maz. Softly, she whispered “I’m glad I didn’t lose you.”

The women returned back to the camp in silence. Night was beginning to fall and celebrations were slowly dying down. Rey knew she had so much to face – but first she’d have to tell her friends the truth. “Tomorrow”, she thought. “Let them be happy right now.”

Excusing herself to sleep, she once more left them laughing freely in the tent, returned to her small cot and finally rested. She would find Ben, no matter where he was. She would meet him where the shadow ended. Rey got up from her bed once more to grab Ben’s dusty and bloody sweater, hugged it tight and whispered calmly until she fell asleep.

“Be with me.”


End file.
